Just inside the Lille Gate there is a pub called the Pub ‘T Klein Rijsel which not only boasts an excellent selection of beer, but also hosts a small but fascinating museum that is well worth a visit. Here’s a selection of photos to whet your appetite.
Bonjour,
Je suis à la recherche d’info sur notre ancêtres Charles PAILHEZ Soldat au 142RI 32éme BRIGADE Le 24 Novembre 1914 il monte à l’assaut dans le secteur de LANGEMARK,il est bléssé par une balle explosive avec multiples éclats dans le visage.Nous savons qu’il a été évacué dans un Hopital de Campagne situé dans les remparts de YPRES ou a été extraits une trentaine d’éclats dans la façe et main gauche.Son identité civil a été relevé dans un registre pour inscrire cette blessure sur le livre des atrocités allemandes.pourriez-vous SVP me renseigner sur l’existance de ce registre.
Bonjour Joel. I have not heard of this atrocity book. I wonder if anyone else who reads this site has? Thanks for commenting.
Hello Magicfingers and Joel! I’ve found that book online, you can take a look here: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b85945319.r=.langFR
Wow. What a find!
On amazon.fr: https://www.amazon.fr/atrocit%C3%A9s-allemandes-1914-Alan-Kramer/dp/2847342354
Part of the commentary: “Reality, as the allied propaganda, or “skull stuffing” announced very early, as the German authorities claimed and after the war, a growing number of skeptics? Irish historians John Horne and Alan Kramer conducted the survey in the archives of eight European countries. The sources give an overwhelming response: from August to October 1914, nearly 6,500 Belgian and French civilians were intentionally murdered, hundreds of villages (even towns) ravaged by the German army. How did the fear of the snipers and the civil resistance, a myth born during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, have led the German soldiers to systematic crimes of great magnitude? What was the influence of the “atrocities” on the propaganda of the two camps, helping to give the world conflict the meaning of a “crusade” against “barbarism”? How did this theme, which was at first central to the allied discourse on “German guilt” and the judgment of war criminals, end up in the 1920s as a general skepticism? This masterful book on a war crime, its instrumentalization and its place in the memory of the belligerents finds its relevance while the fate of civilians in times of war and the scope of international justice remain hot topics.”
There’s a different version -all text, no illustrations- here: https://archive.org/details/livrerougelesatr00fran
I’m amazed they published something like this so early at the beginning of the war (December 1914). I will try to find out later about that register Joel mentions…
Truly amazing find, Mrs B. Seriously interesting. But not necessarily unique. Have emailed you – there is a large file attached containing work by a Belgian artist. Meanwhile, I await news on the register…